


A Working Solution

by Merfilly



Series: Safehaven [7]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Reunions, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:53:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7919503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Padmé proposes Rex's idea to the clan, and they make a choice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Working Solution

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, one and all, for the support.

"Alright, alright… our whole family is together now, and yes, this meeting calls for everyone to take an equal voice in a decision," Ahsoka said, getting them all to quiet down, now that Shaak had slipped in from settling her padawan in with the twins. Now that Roo Roo had a lightsaber, she was adequate protection for the pair while they were in the city. "So… ranks are off for this one. And I'm going to let Padmé talk now." She stressed the name lightly, because she and the others still tended to use a title for the human woman, not her name.

All seven brothers and both Jedi gave her their undivided attention, and she had to call on her political training to keep her poise. This was asking a lot of them, after all.

"I am assured you all know that the twins' father is Anakin Skywalker. I'm also assured, you all know that Anakin Skywalker became the Sith known as Darth Vader. You also know the Emperor was recently killed by Vader, after Ahsoka paid him a visit with information about my status." When they all nodded, she continued. "I have met with him now. Tinker and Rex were kind enough to escort me. Vader was very reasonable through most of our discussion, did not press me for information about where I had been kept safe at, and was generally… sane. This is more than I remember of my last meeting with him.

"I am not about to excuse any of his actions or suggest he is 'safe' by any means. But he is willing to abide by terms I have placed for his meeting with the twins, and further contact with me."

"And we can trust the word of a Sith?" It was Fives asking, not meanly, but trying to understand.

"Possibly not, which is the main reason I asked for this meeting." Padmé looked him directly in the eyes. "All of you are… the word you use is _aliit_ , yes? to my children. I respect that. I am asking for you to weigh the idea of taking the clan off Naboo, so that neither the Gungans nor the Naboo people are endangered anymore by my presence. I am asking you to consider a more mobile lifestyle, aboard a freighter, perhaps even assisting the Rebellion I keep hearing about. I am asking for other options that I might not have thought of.

"Because if Vader is willing to make the effort to meet my wishes, by never searching for me or his children, meeting at neutral locations, and curtailing his temper in their presence… there is a slim chance that the man he once was might become the man he is all the time."

"We would have to negotiate with the worlds supporting the Rebellion, to better keep ourselves provisioned in a safe manner. Or rely on those few independent systems that accept non-humans in," Echo surmised.

"Being constrained to a ship isn't much different than living underwater," Tack said.

"And we'd have an opportunity to make more contacts with other species, for the biters," Tinker pointed out. "They need that, learn new ways that aren't Gungan hunting and taming, or Naboo politeness and negotiation."

"That's a good point," Kix agreed. "I see it as a better chance for all of us to meet our own needs. Space freighting will mean combat, eventually, either against warlords or pirates. And much as I prefer not having patients, I know we vod'e are not men of peace, by and large. Neither is at least one of our Jedi."

"Both," Fives quickly said, getting a playful snap of sharp teeth at him from the elder Togruta.

"I would prefer not to expose the Gungans to any further risk. They have been too kind to us, teaching us their ways, and opening their homes to us. If we are to have dealings with the Sith, even if he is possibly finding a little more honor in himself, I'd rather do it away from our hosts," Tup said.

"I suggested it," Rex pointed out, putting his weight firmly behind Padmé's request. That left everyone looking at the two Jedi.

"I'll request we have a smaller, secondary ship that can be docked, so that I can take my Padawan away at times, for training, but my place is with my clan," Shaak told them in firm tones, her hands going to hold one of Echo's and one of Fives' in an open show of her affection for those two. "And I will ask Roo Roo's kinfast if any of them wish to join us… but I am confidant my padawan will be willing to share our lives, no matter what."

Now Padmé looked at Ahsoka directly, their eyes meeting. The human understood a little of what she was asking here, given history. Without bothering to explain her position, though, Ahsoka nodded curtly.

"We go then," Ahsoka said, looking around the table to the men she would fight for, die for, and already lived for. She did not think about the fact that if she had spoken against it, the men probably would have sided with her. She was their clan head by their wishes and her rank. This was the right thing to do, and it didn't necessarily mean she had to interact with Vader… so long as he did nothing to harm her padawans.

+++

The second time Padmé left to meet with Vader, only Ahsoka accompanied her, and that was because the twins were going with her. They were understandably nervous, if being very brave about it, and Ahsoka was not going to make it harder on them. 

The freighter they had managed to procure had space for two smaller ships, and they were in one of these. Shaak Ti had promised not to leave the clan during their away trip; it was deemed important to keep at least one Jedi with the clan at all times. Predictably, Rex and Fives had both argued with Ahsoka over not taking one of them. Just as predictably, she had refused to listen, though she had argued back that if Vader was going to make a move against them, one or two men would not change the odds greatly, because this meeting would be a heavily laid trap to begin with.

Neither man liked that thought. Rex consoled himself after with the fact that Kix admitted to implanting a tracer in both women and the twins, something that could be activated in an emergency.

Now, as Ahsoka jockeyed the small ship to land on a planet she dimly remembered having been one of their campaigns during the war, she focused on being as serene as Shaak pretended to be most of the time. The twins needed her to be strong and supportive, not full of fears and doubt.

"What if he doesn't even like us, Momma?" Luke asked.

"Don't be silly, Luke," Leia scolded him, rolling her eyes. "Everyone likes you, and most people like me at first," she added, which made Ahsoka actually laugh. It was true, though. Some people found Leia too domineering after exposure, but it felt like no one ever disliked her brother.

"Your father will love you both," Padmé said with more determination than conviction. She knew by the twitch of a pair of lekku she wasn't convincing their teacher, but the twins settled down for the landing at least.

Padmé was rather relieved the Noghri did not come to meet them; the twins should have time to get used to them without their first impression being their fierce manner of guarding. Ahsoka walked with them, eventually pulling Luke onto her hip despite his age because it always calmed him down. Leia contented herself with holding her mother's hand all the way to the shuttle.

At the ship, two Noghri silently stepped aside for their entry, and Luke peered at them with open curiosity. Ahsoka gave him a tiny mental nudge about staring, and he looked ahead, allowing him to see his father for the first time ever when they entered the more open space of the shuttle interior.

Both twins stared unabashedly at the shiny black armor encasing the man they knew to be their father. Likewise, Vader stared at them, quickly seeing how blatantly they looked like Padmé… and himself, from before Mustafar. 

Neither Sith nor Jedi nor Politician spoke in those first minutes, until Luke broke the staring contest by sliding out of his teacher's hands and off her hip to walk closer. His little six year old self looked up the tall (taller than Buir-Soka or Buir-Shaak) with a perfectly serious face and opened his mouth.

"Will you like me?"

Vader, with a gentle summons of the Force that startled Ahsoka for how careful it was, lifted the boy up in the air in front of him, then cupped an arm around him to support him physically.

"I think you are accustomed to being liked, aren't you? Then why should I not, especially when you are my son?"

"You have to like Leia too, then, because she's my sister, even if she is bossy."

Padmé could not help but smile at her son's precocious sense of reality. Near her, Ahsoka was merely observing, entirely too tense, as Vader decided how to answer that, even as he drew Luke closer, emulating the way he'd seen Ahsoka holding the boy on a hip.

"Then she is just like your mother, and I love your mother. Therefore, I will like your sister, Leia." His helm turned so he was obviously looking at the girl. She let go of Padmé's hand, and came to stand in front of Vader, hands planting on her hips like she'd seen Tup do a million times when trying to make the others listen.

"Then you have to be nice to our momma and to our _buir'e_ ," Leia warned him in all perfect seriousness. "Family never hurts family."

Ahsoka was holding her breath, unconsciously, then, as Leia laid out that demand. Padmé, honestly, wasn't much better.

"I will not harm any of your _aliit_ ," Vader promised the girl, choosing the Mando'a to show he did understand the concept.

"Alright, then I just might like you too," Leia told him.

+++

Safely back at home on the freighter, which as yet had no name because it was a hotly debated topic among the clan members, Ahsoka Tano was letting herself enjoy the drink she had wound up needing half a dozen times during the visit.

"She's got your gonads, Fives; absolutely didn't censor a kriffing thing she wanted to say! If she's this bad at six, what am I going to do with her when she's older?" Ahsoka demanded, pouring more _net'ra gal_.

"That's where I come in," Padmé chimed in, laughing some. "You teach them to be Jedi, and I'll teach them diplomacy."

"Good luck with the little biter for _that_ ," Rex muttered, knowing just how blunt Leia could be. He was amused, though, under his relief to have them all home.

"There may be something to the idea of Vader not being fully aware of all he has done," Ahsoka said after finishing the drink she had only just poured. "He feels strangely disquieted by everything, and genuinely honest in his concern toward the twins. I still won't forgive him, but I'm willing to watch his actions with more open thoughts."

"There is something strange in the idea of having a Sith as family," Shaak said, nursing her own drink, something native to Shili that Ahsoka had never developed a taste for. "But… for the children, we must accept the events as they stand."

"Might be odd, might sit poorly, given events, but… better to have him under our eyes while he does this changing act than to have him as an outright enemy again," Ahsoka decided. "Though, if he goes murder-beast again…" She let her voice trail off to look at Padmé.

"If he does, by then, we will know the weaker points to attack, and put him out of the Galaxy's misery," Padmé swore. That got everyone's glasses in the air, as the small clan could agree on that. It was, at least, a common goal to add to their unit mission.

**Author's Note:**

> aliit - clan  
> buir - parent / buir'e - parents  
> net'ra gal - spicy ale


End file.
